1 sweet pie pumpkin or 2 large cans (16 ounce) pureed pumpkin (do not use the pumpkin pie filling, as this will be too spicy.
4 cups (1 qt) vegetable broth
1 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Slice pumpkin in half, clean out seeds and as much of the stringy pulp as you can.
3. Fill a shallow baking pan with about one inch of water and place both pieces of the pumpkin, flat side down, into the pan. Bake in the oven for about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Make sure the skin of the pumpkin doesn’t burn.
4. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes.
5. Scoop the pulp from the baked pumpkin halves, into a large saucepan or soup pot.
6. If using canned pumpkin, ignore the first 5 steps above, and empty the canned pumpkin into a large saucepan or soup pot.
7. Add the broth, salt and pepper.
8. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 1 hour. Add water or more broth if necessary.
9. Take the mixture off the heat and let cool for 1 hour. Make sure the mixture is cool enough to work with, as you can burn yourself if you splash the pureed mixture in the next step.
10. Puree the pumpkin and broth mixture in a blender. You will need to puree about a third of the mixture at a time in a typical blender.
11. Empty the pureed pumpkin into a separate pot or bowl.
12. When the entire mixture is smooth, return it all to the soup pot.
13. Add the cream and mix well with a spoon.
14. Add the sugar, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg, and stir well.
15. Heat over low to medium heat for about 15 minutes and serve hot.

In that case, you’ll be mighty disappointed in this baked potato soup recipe, but if you like a simple, comfort-inducing soup, you can’t go wrong with this one. Of course, like any variation of a baked potato, you can go overboard and add whatever you like to this recipe. Still, the simple ways are the best, in my opinion.

4 baking potatoes (Russet)
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
4 cups 1% milk
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup chopped chives
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup imitation or lite sour cream
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (Optional)
Bacon bits (Optional)
Chopped broccoli (Optional)
Chili powder (Optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat over to 400 F.
2. Bake potatoes until you can push a fork in easily, typically about an hour.
3. Scoop out the insides of the potatoes and discard the skins.
4. Melt the butter over medium low heat in a saucepan. Slowly stir in the flour to make a creamy paste. Once mixed, stir for 1 minute, then slowly pour in the broth.
5. Continue stirring and slowly add the milk.
6. Turn up the heat to medium and stir until the soup mixture begins to thicken.
7. Add the slightly crumbling potatoes, chives, salt and pepper. Stir well and heat for 12-15 minutes.
8. Mix in the sour cream until well blended with the soup.
9. If you like, mix in bacon bits, sauteed chopped broccoli (florets), or chili powder to taste, or serve these as separate condiments in bowls.

Serve while hot. Serves 4-6.